This drawing and another by Degas (MMA 19.51.6), both purchased at the sale of the contents of Degas's studio in 1918, are preparatory studies for an etched portrait of Manet made about 1866–68, a few years after the two painters first met in the Louvre.Degas portrayed Manet several times: He made a drawing of Manet watching the races at Longchamps (MMA 19.51.8) and a painting that showed him listening to Mme Manet playing the piano. Upon receiving the painting, Manet was dissatisfied with his wife's likeness and cut off her side of the canvas, an act which enraged Degas and soured the artists' friendship.

Ronald Pickvance Degas 1879: Paintings, pastels, drawings, prints and sculpture from around 100 years ago in the context of his earlier and later works Ex. cat., The National Galleries of Scotland. Edinburgh, 1979, fig. no. 55, p. 60, ill.